December 29, 2007

... the Christmas holidays are here, and I have been relaxing at home with my family as well as enjoying the company of good friends; hearty, rich festive meals, cozy pajama days at homespent breaking in new board games (thank you Aunty Glo for making us all warm flannel pj's - what a treat!), afternoon snoozing while it sprinkles snow outside (yes, we had snow on Christmas day in Vancouver - a rare, but welcome event!!) -- life is good and we are blessed...

My lead-up time to these holidays was not quite as mellow though, and there is no doubt in my mind that I am particularly relishing these slow-paced, peaceful holidays because of what came before: that is, pretty much all of the month of December leading up to Christmas Eve! Between putting together Christmas crafty projects in a couple of my children's classes (the gingerbread house collage in the photo is what I came up with for my daughter's 3rd/4th grade class; last-minute browsing through my vintage craft books in search of inspiration lead me to the very neat idea of making the house out of sandpaper!), making a fantastical "Madame la Neige" (Lady of the Snow) costume for our school Christmas concert (now, that was fun!), getting together all my wares for the annual Farmer's Market Christmas Fair held on Dec. 15 which I had absolutely no time to blog about (a little ironic given that one of my main reasons I first decided to have a blog was for it to act as my local newsletter and advertise all of my market dates!), celebrate one of my daughter's birthdays who was born 8 years ago, one week before Christmas (the sweet little angel!), and preparing for our usual Christmas Eve and Christmas Day celebrations which were made extra special this year by my brother surprising the children with his arrival on Christmas Eve from Montreal (thanks big brother!), it's been rather nutty around here! Don't get me wrong, I truly enjoyed doing everything I just listed, but a little more time and a little more sleep would have been a good thing; I have to start thinking about that now for next year....

As part of my stock for the Farmer's Market Christmas Fair, I had almost 50 little hanging babushka dolls which I made using my babushka appliqué pattern (with a few minor alterations). They certainly may be hung on a tree as a Christmas ornament, but I think they also work as a hanging decoration in any room for any occasion. Here are a few snapshots of some of the dolls -

Now, I sold some, gave some away as gifts, but I did make nearly 50 of them (which was one of the fun, but crazy things I did in December!) and I have some left over... so, I thought I would offer 3 or so of them as a blog giveaway; if any of you are interested, leave a comment on this post and in a week or so, my children and I will draw some names out of a hat.

'Hope you're all enjoying the holidays!

P.S. In case you're wondering, I haven't had any time to reply to my e-mails prior to Christmas - I'll be starting to do that tomorrow...

December 24, 2007

P.S. I've been insanely busy over the past two weeks with no time to post, but I'm planning on writing a few posts over the holidays to tell you what I've been up to, and maybe even, have another giveaway.....

December 10, 2007

Congratulations to all three of you and thank you from the absolute bottom of my heart for all the amazing happy blogiversary wishes! I'm so touched and, very much, at a loss for words...I wish I could give each one of you a cupcake tote! I'm so thrilled to have received comments from readers who have never commented before; I feel somehow more connected to everyone who's reading my blog... And, my children and I had so much fun doing the draw, that I think I'll have to come up with another giveaway -- maybe even before the year's out...

As I sit in front of my computer and re-read all your heartwarming notes, I feel so excited about my second year of blogging, and very inspired to keep on posting about my little creations (hopefully, a little more often) and, who knows,tomaybe even (as some of you have suggested) set up an online shop to sell some of my wares....